Reborn: A House of Night Parody
by engelsca
Summary: After realizing it's Zoey's fault Heath is dead, his mom turns to the dark side to kill Zoey.
1. Chapter 1, 2, 3

**Reborn**

**A House of Night Parody**

**Chapter One**

**Heath's Mom**

Bertha Luck stared out the window of her home. Rain was streaming down the window, partially making her tiny backyard blurry. The backyard – Heath's backyard. Heath's old backyard.

Bertha felt the tears run down her cheeks. It had been about a month since Kalona had ended Heath's life. Heath had only been eighteen.

Regret filled Bertha. _Why_ had she let him go to Italy with Zoey? _Zoey!_ It was her fault Heath was dead. Ever since Zoey became a vampyre fledgling, she had put Heath in danger many times, not to mention all the times she hurt him.

Heath would have gone to the University of Tulsa, and he would've become a firefighter or police officer. He would have found a wife and had kids and saved lives. Bertha was proud of Heath – he had risked his life for Zoey. But the pain from her son's death took over and she sobbed. Again.

Hours passed and Bertha found herself in darkness, still staring out the window. She walked over to the table where a big, purple candle stood. Purple had been Heath's favourite colour – he had a purple raincoat when he was a boy. She ignored the fact that Zoey's strongest affinity, spirit, was also represented by purple.

Bertha lit the candle and put her palms together. "Lord, I'd like to thank you for blessing me with Heath. He was the best son I could've ever gotten. Please take care of him for me. Amen." She paused, and then added "And help me get revenge on Zoey and destroy that fucking bitch. Amen… again."

Just then, Arnold, Bertha's husband came in. "Why the hell is it dark in here?" He flicked on the lights. "Jesus Christ, Bertha, you didn't start dinner yet? I need some food! You know how long I worked today? Twelve fucking hours, unlike you and your lazy, unemployed ass!"

Bertha flinched. Arnold always had angry outbursts. Bertha would've left him, but Heath's death made her never want to be alone. But could being alone be any worse than being abused by Arnold?

"I'll start dinner right away, dear," Bertha said, hurrying to the kitchen. She briefly heard Arnold mutter something about her being a fatass.

While cooking, Bertha thought about her plans to destroy Zoey. Surely the Lord would help her. After all, Zoey believed in that stupid goddess Nyx. And the People of Faith had declared her a sinner.

Now, how to kill Zoey. A trap, maybe. Get her away from her circle and warriors. But how? And what about the vision girl, Aphrodite? Would she know Bertha was coming and warn Zoey?

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Bertha!" Arnold yelled from his recliner. "Go get the door!"

Bertha hurried to the door. She fixed her hair in the nearby mirror, which didn't help because it still looked awful. She sighed and opened the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Luck," said a woman with auburn hair. She was wearing a black dress. "I am Neferet, High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night."

"The House of Night?" Bertha asked in disbelief. "Are you here to mark me?"

Neferet laughed for about five minutes. "Are you kidding? NO! We only mark teenagers, dumbass."

"Oh. What do you want then?"

"It has come to my attention that you want to kill Zoey Redbird," Neferet said.

Bertha gasped. "How did you find out? Please don't kill me!"

"I have my sources," Neferet said quickly. "And I won't kill you. In fact, I want you to help me kill Zoey."

"You hate Zoey too? Why haven't you killed her yet?"

"I've been trying to for, like, seven books," Neferet snapped. "Now are you going to help me or what?"

"Yes! But what about my husband?" Bertha turned to where Arnold was watching _The Big Comfy Couch._

Neferet looked at him, pulled a gun out of her pocket and shot. It merely got sucked into Arnold's fat. Neferet ran up to him and shot him about ten times while yelling "Die, bitch, die!" Finally, Arnold died.

Neferet looked up to see Bertha's shocked face. "Oh, I forgot to ask if you still loved him."

Bertha shook her head. "No. I don't love him."

"It's funny how your teenage son found the girl of his dreams and you were stuck with this asshole."

"How is that funny?" Bertha shrieked.

"From your point of view it isn't," Neferet muttered. "From mine, it's hilarious." She laughed.

Bertha rolled her eyes. "So are we gonna kill Zoey or what?"

"Whoa, calm down. Obviously it's not that easy. I mean, I would've killed her by now but…"

"…She's the main character and can't die?" Bertha finished for her.

"Exactly!"

"So what makes you think we can kill her now?"

"Obviously we can't," Neferet said. "But there needs to be another book, so here we are."

Bertha shook her head. "Let's go." She followed Neferet out to the white bull that was freezing her lawn.

"My Consort, meet Bertha Luck," Neferet said to the bull. "She's Heath, Zoey's old consort's mother. She's going to help us kill Zoey." Neferet climbed onto the bull's back and motioned for Bertha to come on.

_ I don't think I can carry that, _the bull said.

So for the fifty miles to the House of Night, Neferet sexually straddled the bull while Bertha jogged beside them.

When they got there, Bertha collapsed on the ground and tried to catch her breath for about half an hour. Neferet grinded on the bull.

Bertha finally caught her breath and looked up to see the House of Night covered in sticky strands of darkness. "What the hell?"

Neferet threw some darkness strands on Bertha. Bertha cried out as the darkness strangled her. "Shut up!" Neferet yelled. "I just need to make sure you are true to Darkness and do not convert to Light."

The last thing Bertha saw was Heath in the sky, looking at her in horror.

**Chapter Two**

**Rephaim**

Rephaim played with Stevie Rae's hair as she did his sociology homework. Everything about Stevie Rae's blonde curls drove him crazy. Slowly, he lowered his mouth onto one of the curls. Stevie Rae whipped her hair away from him. "What the hell, Rephaim?"

"I love your hair!" he yelled, putting his hands in her hair. He moaned.

"I can't wait until you're a bird," Stevie Rae muttered. "I'm going to Damien's room." She left their room.

Rephaim sighed. He wished he wasn't so creepy. But didn't Stevie Rae love him for him? She seemed less into him ever since he became a human. What, did the feathers and beak turn her on? Rephaim realized how creepy that sounded and slapped himself as a punishment. Did normal people slap themselves?

Rephaim left the room and walked around the tunnels. Most people gave him a dirty look as he walked past their room. The only person that didn't was Kramisha. Rephaim walked into her room.

"Merry meet, Kramisha," he said.

Kramisha looked at him. "Bird Boy, what is you doin' in my room? Can't ya see I is busy writin' a poem?"

"May I see what you wrote?" Rephaim asked.

Kramisha sighed. "Fine, but I'ma warn ya, it's real hard to understand."

_Heath's mom is evil_

_She is on Neferet's side_

_She will kill Zoey_

"What could this mean?" cried Rephaim.

"I dunno," Kramisha said. "We'll hafta have a group meetin'. I hope Zoey can translate it. I gotta feelin' it's about her."

Rephaim looked at her. "How are your poems so miraculous when your grammar is so abhorrent?"

"Speak ENGLISH!" Kramisha yelled. "I got no idea whatcha just said."

Rephaim shook his head and left. Why would Nyx give Kramisha such a great gift when she clearly wasn't capable of it? Rephaim wondered if he had a gift. Oh, right! He could turn into a bird! Still, it wasn't as cool as being able to make it windy outside.

Rephaim went back to his and Stevie Rae's room. Stevie Rae was there, talking to her mom on the phone. Rephaim wanted to meet her mom. He wanted to eat cookies and listen to country music and play with hair.

"Rephaim," Stevie Rae whispered, motioning for him to come to her. He sat on their bed with her and tried to hear what her mom was saying. That reminded him – he should call Kalona soon. Rephaim wanted Stevie Rae to spend time with Kalona and realize he wasn't as bad as Zoey made him out to be.

"Alright. Bye, Mama," Stevie Rae said into the phone. She hung up and held the phone out to Rephaim. "You wanna talk to your daddy?"

"My father's not on the phone," Rephaim said.

"O-kay," Stevie Rae mumbled. She and Rephaim sat in awkward silence.

"Do you want to make lo…"

"No," Stevie Rae cut him off. "Jeez. I guess Nyx wasn't kidding when she said she'd make you a regular guy."

"Do you still love me?" Rephaim asked.

"Are you kidding? Yes! I'm just so freakin' stressed. We have Neferet right here and we're not attacking. I don't think Z's being a real good High Priestess."

"Technically you are the High Priestess," Rephaim pointed out. "You could start the fight."

"Z wouldn't listen to me." She sighed. "And without Z, we wouldn't have Stark, Darius or the circle. All we'd have is my earth affinity, your bird-ness and the red fledglings' memory erasing."

"My father could help us," Rephaim whispered. "And he could get into Stark's body and convince Zoey."

"Whoa! Kalona can get into Stark's body? Does that mean Kalona's been doing it with Z?"

"Well, duh," Rephaim said.

Just then, Damien ran into the room. "Hey bitches! Like, Aphrodite is, like, having a vision. And Janet got kicked off America's Next Top Model. Waaaah."

"Is Aphrodite okay?" Stevie Rae asked.

"You should be asking if I'm okay. MY BOYFRIEND IS DEAD!" Damien fake-cried.

"Is Zoey there?" Stevie Rae asked, ignoring Damien's outburst.

"Holy shit! Does Zoey have to be mentioned on, like, every page? Last time I recalled, it's called the House of Night series, not the Zoey Redbird series."

"I thought gays were supposed to be nice," Stevie Rae mumbled.

"Come on, bitches!" Damien yelled, pulling them out of the room.

**Chapter Three**

**Bertha**

Bertha sat in Neferet's room, waiting as Neferet was finding blue makeup to paint on her face. Bertha was going to pose as the new martial arts teacher, Professor Ima Notevila.

"What design do you want?" Neferet asked, coming with the makeup.

"Flowers!" Bertha exclaimed.

"The bottom of a shoe? Okay!"

Neferet drew a crappy drawing of a bottom of a shoe on Bertha's face. When she was done, Bertha looked like a piece of shit. Neferet was overjoyed.

"So, you have to make sure you don't give away your identity," Neferet said. "Even though most people won't be able to figure out you're Bertha Luck. There are tons of fat people in America."

"I'm not fat, I'm chunky," Bertha retorted.

Neferet had a laughing spaz. "You're so fat that when you clicked up on the elevator, it went down."

"That only happened once!" Bertha yelled.

"Don't talk back to me, human!" Neferet screamed, throwing a strand of darkness around Bertha's neck.

Bertha stepped back and desperately tried to get the darkness off of her. She kept stepping back until she fell down a humorously convenient staircase.

Bertha screamed and landed flat on the ground, causing it to shake. The darkness flew off her neck and disappeared. Bertha groaned.

"Are you okay?" asked a guy with black hair and blue eyes, that just so happened to be there.

"Superman?" she said.

He laughed. "No. Erik Night, drama professor."

"Ima Notevila. Martial arts professor."

Erik smiled. "Ima Notevila. Nice name."

"Thank you." Bertha then realized she was still lying on the ground, so she tried to roll off her back like an awkward turtle. After ten minutes of watching her do that, Erik said "Uh… do you need help?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Bertha assured him. She continued to roll around.

"Bertha!" Neferet screamed, running down the stairs. "What are you doing? We need to continue drawing your fake mark so you can pass as Ima Notevila so we can kill Zoey!" Neferet then noticed Erik. "I mean… come on, Ima, we need you to fix the… uh… falangey in my room! Yes. Falangey. You're not Bertha Luck."

Erik raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not Bertha Luck, Zoey's old boyfriend Heath's mother," Bertha said quickly. "And yes, the falangey. I'm on my way."

Erik helped Bertha up, even though it took all his strength. "When will I see you again, Ima?"

Bertha gazed into his blue eyes. "Just call my name and I'll be there," she said in a dramatic whisper. "Or call my phone number, 199-299-3999."

With one last dramatic look into his eyes, Bertha left with Neferet. The entire time she thought about Erik. He was only nineteen, and she was, like, forty-five, but Bertha knew she had to get him to be hers.

At ten a.m., when most people were asleep, Bertha was desperately planning her martial arts class for the next day. She had no idea what martial arts was, so she was just planning a fun drawing activity.

Her phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. Bertha picked it up. "Hello, it's Bertha Luck."

"Ima?" said Erik in a confused voice.

"Oh! Erik! Yes, it's Ima. That's what I meant to say."

"Meet me at Nyx's Temple in half an hour," he said. "I need to see you." And with that, he hung up.

Bertha squealed like a little girl/pig. She ran to her bathroom to get ready. Since vampyres had a gothic look, Bertha took her Crayola black marker and coloured her eyelids. Then she coloured her lips with a red marker. When she was done, she looked like a drug addicted, insane drag queen.

She searched through her closet for clothes, but it seemed like everything Neferet put in there was too small. She finally found something that would fit: a garbage bag with arms holes and a note attached to it.

_Dear Bertha,_

_ If you can only fit in this garbage bag, you are seriously insanely fat. I hope you know we don't serve unhealthy food here. Good luck with that._

_-Neferet_

After crying for about ten minutes about the whole unhealthy food thing, Bertha realized she was going to be late for her visit with Erik. She rushed out and jogged to Nyx's Temple. Actually, she only jogged for the first thirty seconds. She walked for a minute after that, then she had to crawl since her exhaustion was so bad. Finally, she got to Nyx's Temple.

"Ima!" Erik cried, opening his arms. Bertha ran into them, causing Erik to fall to the ground with Bertha on top of him. After realizing she knocked him out, Bertha gave him CPR and got him conscious again. He had some broken ribs, though.

"You look marvelous," he said, even though he was trying very hard not to throw up.

Bertha blushed. "Aw, thank you."

Erik walked towards to many candles in Nyx's Temple. Bertha followed, and they watched the flames burn.

"What element do you feel the closest to?" Erik asked.

"Um, boron," Bertha said, completely serious.

Erik laughed. "You're so funny." He turned to her. "Why do you seem familiar?"

"Did you know Heath Luck?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Don't insult my son!" Bertha yelled. "I mean… who's Heath Luck?"

Erik laughed and cupped her cheek with his hand. "Even though this House of Night is screwed up, I'm glad you're here. We need another professor to be on our side."

"The dark side?" Bertha asked hopefully.

Erik laughed again. "You're killing me. The LIGHT side."

Bertha panicked. She wanted to be on Erik's side, but she needed to kill Zoey. Was there a way to kill Zoey AND be on the light side? No, Zoey was way too blessed by Nyx for killing her to be good.

But what if Zoey turned bad? What if HEATH could make Zoey turn bad? Bertha smiled as she felt the darkness surround her.


	2. Chapter 4 and 5

**Chapter Four**

**Shaylin**

Shaylin wandered around the school. Since she was a fledgling now, she took her walks in the morning instead of the night. It was so cool seeing everything! The way the sunlight shone through the branches of the trees. How blue the sky was. It was all so beautiful.

Up ahead, she saw Nyx's Temple. She hadn't been there yet. It looked really nice though, with all those candles. She walked towards it, and was right about to go in when she heard laughing.

"You're killing me. The LIGHT side." It was Erik! Shaylin's heart did a little flip flop. Erik was the first thing she saw when she regained her sight. He marked her and brought her here. And, to be honest, she had a little crush on him.

Shaylin poked her head in through the entrance. There was Erik, glowing his green colour, standing in front of all the candles, smiling and... _caressing a lady's face?_

The lady was overweight, wearing what looked like a trash bag. She had long red hair that was covering part of her mark, which looked like a… shoe? Her eyelids were practically painted black and her lips were messily coloured red. And she was practically glowing black, darkness strands all around her.

The lady smiled. "Right! The light side. I'm not evil."

Erik moved his hand from her cheek to her waist. "Tell me a bit about yourself, Ima."

Shaylin watched as Ima wrapped her arms around his neck. "What do you wanna know?" she whispered, bringing her lips to his.

Shaylin covered her mouth to stifle the sob that was building up in her throat. She was sure Erik had a crush on her! He always flirted with her and stuck by her side. Yet there he was, making out with an evil clown.

Shaylin couldn't watch anymore. She ran out of the Temple and headed straight for a tree that was far away from everything else. She sat down next to it and cried. Erik Night was a player, a jerk, and obviously insane for finding that circus freak attractive.

Shaylin reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She wanted to go back to the tunnels. She searched through her contacts, wondering who to call. She decided to go with someone she knew wouldn't be busy – Erin.

"What the hell, Shaylin?" Erin said, irritated. "It's ten. What do you want?"

"I need a drive home," Shaylin whimpered. "I'm at the school."

"Are you saying that out of everybody, you're calling me to come pick you up?"

Shaylin flinched. "Yes."

"Oh," Erin said, her voice softer. "Um, okay. I'll be there in a bit."

Shaylin hung up and took some deep breaths. Erin would be there soon. She tried not to think of what was going on in the Temple with Erik and Ima. Speaking of Ima, why was she glowing black? And why did she say she wasn't evil?

It was obvious Ima wasn't good. She was covered in darkness. Shaylin wondered if Erik could see it. What if he could see it and knew she was bad, but still was with her? Was Erik turning to the Darkness?

Shaylin's phone rang. She picked it up. "H-hello?"

"I'm at the front," Erin whispered. "Hurry up before someone notices me."

Shaylin ran to the front of the school. Sure enough, Erin was sitting there in the Range Rover. Shaylin hopped into the passenger seat. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem," Erin said, driving away. "Is everything alright? You look like you've been crying."

Shaylin took a deep breath. "I saw Erik kissing another woman."

"Oh no he didn't!" Erin cried. "I thought you two were so cute together. What the hell's he doing with another girl?"

"I don't know," Shaylin said, crying again. "She was so creepy looking. She had Darkness all around her and she was glowing black."

"That can't be good," Erin mumbled. "Do you think Erik's gone over to the Dark side?"

"I was thinking that. Oh! Before they started kissing, he said something about the Light side. And she said she wasn't evil. It was weird."

Erin shook her head. "When Zoey first started dating Erik, I thought he was the perfect guy. Now here he is, being all evil and shit, cheating on you and betraying us. What an asshole."

It was quiet for a while. Then Erin said "Why did you call me to come pick you up?"

Shaylin shrugged. "You just seemed… available. I hardly see you hanging out with everyone. You're always in your room. I just figured you'd be able to come."

Erin sighed. "Yeah, well, my friendships with everyone seem to be fading away. I feel like I have no one."

"You have me," Shaylin whispered. "I have no one too. We could be loners together."

Erin smiled. "I'd like that."

They pulled up to the tunnels. "So," Erin said, "are we gonna tell everybody what happened with Erik?"

Shaylin sighed. "I don't know. I don't want everybody getting in my business, but that thing with the lady is weird. She's evil. Is there any chance you'd tell Zoey for me?"

"Like Zoey would listen to me."

"But you're water! You're part of the circle!"

"Nobody gives a shit about water," Erin snapped. "Everybody's always talking about how cool air, fire, earth and spirit are. Have you ever heard anybody compliment water or say they needed my help? No! Because nobody gives a shit. They manage that circle perfectly fine without me. The only reason they probably keep me there is because I'm blessed by Nyx."

Shaylin realized Erin was close to crying. "Come on. We won't tell them today. Let's go to your room and watch chick flicks and eat so much chocolate our head explodes."

Erin wiped her tears away. "Okay. And Shaylin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for giving a shit about water."

**Chapter Five**

**Aurox**

Aurox walked around the school, surveying what was going on. It was quiet, as the fledgling were supposed to be asleep. But it was Neferet's orders to watch the school, especially for Zoey's group.

Aurox got a weird feeling in his stomach when he thought of Zoey. He knew he was supposed to hate her, but he didn't. What did Zoey ever do wrong? She had been true to Nyx the entire time she'd been marked. Isn't that what High Priestesses were supposed to do?

Aurox mentally kicked himself. No. Neferet said Zoey was bad. It was his job to follow Neferet's orders. After all, wasn't his entire existence created to serve Neferet?

Aurox walked to the front of the school. He wished he could attend classes all day like everyone else. All he had was first period with Thanatos and the special fledglings. It was always the highlight of his day.

Aurox heard the sound of a car. He quickly saw where it was coming from. It was the Range Rover that belonged to Zoey's group! It drove out of sight.

Aurox rushed to Neferet's room. "Neferet!" he yelled, banging on her door. "Neferet! I need to tell you something."

Neferet's head poked out of the door. "Uh, Aurox, I'm kinda busy here."

"Zoey's group was here!" He choked out. "I was too late. I couldn't catch them."

"We can talk about this more at night, okay? I'm really busy right now."

_My Goddess, _the bull said. _Come back to bed._

Aurox raised an eyebrow.

Neferet grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, so, um, tomorrow we'll discuss this more, okay? I have to go." She slammed the door.

Aurox shook his head. He didn't know how Neferet could have a bull for a Consort. Then again, Aurox could also turn into a bull. Who was he to judge?

He made his way back outside, this time around Nyx's Temple. Even though he was supposed to consider Neferet his goddess, he considered Nyx his goddess. There was something about her that made him feel secure. He almost felt as though she was watching down on him.

There were some sounds coming from Nyx's Temple. Strange sounds, like… moaning? Was someone getting hurt? Aurox ran over to the Temple and went in.

Nobody was getting hurt. In fact, all he saw was Erik Night making love to some unknown woman. Erik couldn't see Aurox, but the woman could.

When the woman's familiar blue eyes met Aurox's, he felt something strange in his stomach. It was a warm feeling, and it made him really happy. Aurox shook his head, almost as if trying to stop the feeling. Then he ran out of there.

He ran straight to a tree that was away from everything else. He sat down and took a few breaths. Who was that woman? And why did she seem so familiar?

Suddenly, everything went black. Aurox tried to fight against the darkness, but he couldn't move. And then an image flashed across the darkness. The woman was in the image!

Her red hair was up in a messy bun, and she was scrubbing some pots in a sink. She wiped her forehead with her arm and sighed. She looked really sad and tired.

"Mommy!" the voice of a young boy called. "Mommy, look what Daddy and I caught at the lake!" The boy wandered into the room with a fish.

"Oh wow, Heath," the woman said. "That's one big fish. Do you want me to make him for dinner?"

"Yeah!" The boy yelled, his smile huge. Aurox noticed the woman seemed suddenly happy. The boy must've made her happy.

"That's my boy," a man said, coming in. He patted the boy's shoulder. "Looks like we got an angler in the family, Bertha."

The woman, Bertha, smiled. "Looks like we do. Here, give me the fish, Heath. Wash your hands and then you can go play outside before dinner."

The boy, Heath, gave Bertha the fish and ran off to the backyard. Suddenly, the man's face went from happy to angry. He yanked the fish from Bertha's hands. Aurox felt anger bubble inside of him.

"What the fuck, Bertha?" He yelled. "I get out to the lake and see you didn't pack any beer in my lunch! Do you know how hard I fucking work?" He slapped her then, and Bertha's hand went immediately to her cheek. She started crying.

"Shut up!" The man screamed. "Shut the fuck up! You should know better by now! Now get started on dinner! I'm sick of seeing your face." He stormed out.

Aurox was furious with the man. He hated him. Why was he being so mean to Bertha?

Bertha cried silently as she started cleaning the fish. All of a sudden, she was gone and the darkness returned. And then a strange voice started talking.

_Don't forget the past. It explains so much of the future. Remember who you are._

Aurox was suddenly back to being under the tree, seeing Nyx's Temple in the background. He took a deep breath and tried hard to fight whatever emotions were stirring inside of him. "Remember who you are"? He was Aurox. But somehow, he knew that's not what the voice meant.

Aurox thought about how Bertha was being abused. That must've been the name of the woman Erik Night was with – Bertha. He felt sorry for her. Wait; in the thing he saw, she was an adult human. So how did she have a mark when she was with Erik Night?

Aurox realized she wasn't a vampyre. But why didn't he feel she was a threat? Maybe it's because he felt sorry for her, or because she brought him happiness when he saw her, but somehow, Aurox knew she wasn't bad. He knew he had to protect her.


	3. Chapter 6 and 7

**Chapter Six**

**Erik**

Erik stood up and stretched. Sleeping on the floor of Nyx's Temple was not a good idea. His back killed. Then again, it could've also been hurting because of what happened with Ima.

She was still sleeping on the floor, cuddling into her weird dress. Erik smiled. He really did like Ima. She was a real vampyre woman. He was a vampyre man. No more fledglings for him.

He thought of Shaylin. He did kinda like her. She was sweet and the first person he marked, but there was just something about Ima that made him sure he made the right choice choosing her.

"Ima," he whispered, gently touching her shoulder. "It's six pm. I think we better start getting ready for class."

Ima groaned. "Ugh. Class."

He laughed. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty." He helped her up, using all his strength. He handed Ima her dress. "What did you say you teach again?"

"Martial arts," Ima said. She slipped into her dress. "You teach drama, right?"

Erik smiled his movie star smile. "You remembered."

"How could I forget?"

Erik laughed and kissed her. "This was fun. We need to do it again."

"Of course," Ima said flirtatiously. "You know my number."

"You know my class."

Ima laughed. "I'll have to check it out sometime. Hopefully Neferet doesn't have me teaching a class every period. That would suck."

"Oh! That reminds me; meet me at lunch at the Professors' table. Don't worry, I'll bring you somewhere more," he paused, "romantic."

"Sounds like a date," Ima said. She stroked his cheek and then left. He watched her go. It almost hurt.

Erik quickly put on his clothes and hurried out of Nyx's Temple. He was hoping nobody would see him. How embarrassing would it be if his students knew that he spent the morning having sex with the new professor in public? Erik shook that feeling off. He was _**hot.**_

He got to his room and changed his clothes. He styled his hair like Superman. After all, that was what Ima called him the first time she saw him. Was it only yesterday when they met? Huh. It seemed like much longer.

He got to his drama class in record time. His first period class was filing in when an announcement came up. "Due to Professor Lankford's death, any student with fencing will now take martial arts with Professor Notevila. It will be held in the same room as fencing. Thank you."

Erik taught his first class without a hitch. But when Shaylin walked into his class for second period, and he saw the look she gave him, his heart sunk.

Shaylin rushed to the back of the room, away from her usual spot near Zoey. She put her head down on the desk. Erik suddenly felt really bad. He didn't want to teach anymore. He wanted to go over to Shaylin and see what was wrong.

"Okay, class," Erik said nervously. "Today we're just gonna read some scripts out to each other. Choose your groups. And Miss Ruede, I need to talk to you outside."

Shaylin's head snapped up and her eyes narrowed. She slowly got off her chair and followed Erik outside. As soon as the door shut, she yelled "What the hell, Erik?"

"What?"

"I saw you making out with that fat lady in Nyx's Temple!"

"You only saw us making out? Thank Goddess."

Shaylin's face went bright red. "I thought we had something, Erik. It was obvious we had a connection. You were flirting with me, like, all the time. So why did you suddenly go hook up with someone else?"

Erik looked down. "I have a connection with Ima too. She's a vampyre, Shaylin. You're only fifteen."

"That's only four years younger than you!" Shaylin yelled. "She looks middle aged. Are you seriously telling me that you'd rather be with an old, freaky clown than me?"

"You and I weren't even going out! Why are you so pissed off? Did I ever say I liked you? NO! Sure, I flirted with you, but guys flirt with every girl. Don't consider yourself so special."

Shaylin started crying. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Erik? You know what? GO AHEAD! GO DATE CLOWN LADY! I hope you see how stupid you'll look in front of everybody. I can't wait to see her break your heart. And when you're acting all arrogant, thinking she's a total bitch and it's not your fault, I'll be here laughing at you, realizing that I dodged a bullet by not going out with you!"

Shaylin stormed off. Erik watched her leave. She must've thought he wasn't watching her because when she got to the end of the hall, she started sobbing and fell to the ground. Erik was tempted to go help her up, but after what she just said to him, he never wanted to see her again. Who did she think she was?

Erik got back to his class. He barely sat down when Zoey came up to him and said "Where's Shaylin?"

Erik grunted. "Who cares?"

Zoey narrowed her eyes. "Erik, where's Shaylin?"

"She left, okay?" Erik yelled, causing his entire class to look at him. "She fucking left because she's mad at me! Well, you know what? I'm mad at HER. Yeah, that's right! Two can play at that game."

Zoey shook her head. "I'm gonna go find her." Before she left, she looked at Erik right in the eyes. "And, Erik? Don't forget I can kick your ass."

**Chapter Seven**

**Bertha**

"Oh wow," Bertha said, coming into the room where her class was held. Her students were already there. "This is a gym! How are we supposed to do art in a gym?"

A kid with brown hair raised his hand. "Um, Professor Notevila, martial arts is a traditional form of Oriental self-defence or combat that utilizes physical skill and coordination without weapons."

Bertha looked at the sheet Neferet had given her on the kids' names until she found an accurate description of that kid.

_-Know it all kid, brown hair and gay-ish? That's Damien. He has an air affinity and is part of Zoey's group. If he says something know-it-all-like, just make him do push ups._

"Um, fifty push ups for you, Damien," Bertha said hesitantly.

"But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Fifty push ups!" Bertha yelled. She watched in delight as Damien did the push ups.

"Well, class, to be honest, I thought martial arts was actual art," Bertha admitted.

"Aren't all professors thoroughly trained in the subjects they teach?" asked a familiar voice. Bertha looked up and saw her: Zoey. She had the same dark hair and dark eyes as before, except she had a bunch of blue tattoos all over her.

"Zoey," Bertha choked out, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. "We meet again."

Zoey raised an eyebrow. "Um, we've never met before."

"Oh! Uh, right. I was thinking about another person with a bunch of tattoos."

"But I'm the only person ever to have all these tattoos."

"Shut up!" Bertha yelled. "Fifty push ups."

Zoey rolled her eyes and did the push ups. Bertha watched and laughed evilly. She didn't realize she was acting evil until she saw the looks of confusion on her students' faces.

"So, since I thought this was art, I planned a drawing activity," Bertha said. "Just draw whatever you want. I can't wait until lunch."

While her students drew, Bertha doodled things like _**BERTHA + ERIK = LOVE **_and _**MRS. BERTHA NIGHT **_all over her sheet. When the bell finally rang, Bertha jumped up and ran to the cafeteria. Actually, she only ran for thirty seconds.

When she got to the cafeteria, she was shocked to find that all they had for lunch was salad. Bertha had a tantrum for about five minutes before one of the Sons of Erebus told her to shut up. She grudgingly took a plate and piled it with bacon bits and parmesan cheese.

"There you are!" Erik cried as Bertha made her way to the Professors' table. "You ready to go somewhere romantic?"

"Yes please," Bertha purred.

She followed Erik to Nyx's Temple. When she walked in, she was surprised to see that not only was it filled with candles, it was also filled with roses.

Erik picked one up. "I hope it's okay that I left the thorns in. After all, every rose has its thorns."

"You know Poison?" Bertha asked excitedly.

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell's Poison? It's a Miley Cyrus song."

Bertha shook her head. She sat down on the ground and began to eat her bacon and cheese. Erik sat next to her and ate his garden salad, which Bertha wanted to laugh at.

"So what are you doing in the morning?" Erik asked, winking.

"Oh, um, I really need to talk to Neferet. I need to make my plans to destroy Zo-" she stopped herself. "Zooey Deschannel. I hate the show _New Girl_."

"Huh. Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, what's the story behind your mark? It kinda looks like a shoe."

"Maybe because I've been stepped on all my life," Bertha mumbled. She then realized what she said. How did those words come into her head?

Erik nodded. "Wow, that's interesting. Well, I'm not gonna step on you." He grinned.

"Of course you won't, Arnold," Bertha muttered. "I mean Erik!"

Erik raised an eyebrow. "O-kay. Ready to go back to class?"

Bertha nodded and followed him back into the school. The day seemed to go by in a blur. Soon Bertha found herself at Neferet's door at nine am. She knocked.

Neferet stuck her head out the door. "Oh, hey Bertha. I'm kinda busy right now –"

"Stop fucking the bull and come talk to me," Bertha ordered.

Neferet sighed. "Alright." She disappeared for about five minutes before she opened the door for Bertha. Bertha stepped into the room.

"What do you want?" Neferet asked.

"We need to start our plans for killing Zoey," Bertha said. "We're gonna need some help though. I can probably get Erik Night to help us."

"You and Erik? Oh, girl, tell me the deets."

Bertha gave her a look. "Are you serious? We're gonna need more help. Are there any other powerful fledglings that could help us?"

"The evil red ones will," Neferet said. "But I do have some interesting news. Apparently, Shaylin Ruede, the first ever fledgling marked red, and Erin Bates, who has a water affinity, have kind of broken apart from Zoey's group. If we can get them on our side, that's more power for us. The only problem is that Shaylin and Erik just broke up."

"They were going out?" Bertha asked in disbelief.

"Not really, they just had a flirtationship. But if we get Erin, then we might be able to get other members of the circle."

"Excellent," Bertha said. "So how do we get Erin?"

"We simply just need to get her and a member of Zoey's group into a fight. After Erin leaves the tunnels discouraged, we will simply treat her well and show her how special she really is. She will fall into our hands and help us."

Bertha smiled. "Great."

"Oh, and we'll have Aurox," Neferet added. "He's my vessel from the bull. He can also turn into a bull."

"So we'll have the evil red fledglings, water affinity girl, a bull, a hopefully special fledgling and Erik, who could kill with his looks?" Bertha said. "This is fantastic."

Neferet grinned. "I can sense the evil in you."

"I can too," Bertha said. "And it feels great. For once, I get to be the one that steps on people."

Neferet held up two glasses of wine and passed one to Bertha. "Cheers to being a strong woman."

Bertha smiled. "Cheers."


	4. Chapter 8 and 9

**Chapter Eight**

**Erin**

Erin rushed through the halls of the school, desperately trying to find where her martial arts class was. Since her and Shaunee ended their friendship, Erin had gotten a new schedule so she didn't have to be with her all day.

Erin had heard all about Professor Notevila. Apparently, she was Erik's new girlfriend and therefore Shaylin hated her. But she'd also heard, while secretly spying on Damien and Zoey's conversation, that she just let everyone slack off all class.

So when Erin got to the room and saw people doing actual martial arts, she was shocked. One of those I-think-I-should-be-in-the-Olympics kids was leading the class. Professor Notevila was just sitting there laughing at everyone.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor Notevila," Erin said to her. "I couldn't figure out where this was."

"I couldn't either the first time," she agreed. "And please, call me Ima."

Erin nodded. "So, should I go to the changeroom and get ready?"

"You look tired," Ima said. "If you don't wanna participate today, it's fine with me."

"Oh." Erin smiled and sat down next to her. She took out her iPhone and started playing DoodleJump.

"Oh, Erin," Ima said after a while. "I forgot to tell you that there's a special ritual going on for the school and we, the professors, would like you to perform it."

"Me?" Erin asked. "Shouldn't it be Zoey? She has an affinity for all the elements. I just have water."

Ima shook her head and laughed. "Erin, I don't think you realize how special and important you are. You have an affinity for water. That's amazing. You are blessed by Nyx. You could be a High Priestess."

Erin couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "Thanks. But there's a ton of special fledglings here. My water affinity is nothing compared to the red fledglings or the other members of Zoey's group."

"You say Zoey's group like you're not a part of it," Ima pointed out.

Erin bit her lip. "Well, I'm having a falling out with practically everybody. They all think I'm too shallow. I just care about how I look, that's all. And I don't seem them yelling at Aphrodite, and she's a hag from Hell."

Ima put her arm around Erin. "Erin, you are beautiful, special, smart and important. If your friends don't see that, then why are you friends with them? Your friends may be powerful, but you are too. Don't forget that you can do well without them.

"Look at me. My mark is the bottom of a shoe because I've been stepped on all my life. But now, I'm done with the people that were mean to me. I'm becoming an independent, strong woman. You have that option too."

Erin nodded. Everything Ima was saying was so true! "Thanks Ima."

"No problem," Ima said. "And if you decide to move out of the tunnels, I can score you a nice room."

Erin flipped through the Victoria's Secret catalogue in her room. She really wanted to go shopping. She'd suggested it to Shaylin a couple of times, but ever since her fight with Erik, Shaylin was not in the mood. Erin looked over to where Shaylin had taken over Shaunee's bed. She was staring at the walls.

"Shaylin," Erin said. "I think we need to get you out of here."

Shaylin moaned and rolled over to face her. "I don't wanna leave. This is the only place I'm happy."

"Are you sure the mall won't make you happy?" Erin asked, holding up the catalogue.

"Those all look like things Ima would be wearing for Erik," Shaylin muttered. She grabbed one of the pink fluffy pillows and put it on her face. "Ugh. Life sucks."

Erin stood up and dragged Shaylin off the bed. "Come on. We're going to the mall. I'll buy you a cute outfit and make you look hot so Erik can see what he's missing out on."

Erin and Shaylin had just gotten to the door when they heard a voice ask "Where are you going?" Erin turned around and saw it was Shaunee.

"We're going to the mall," Erin replied coolly.

"Without your marks being covered?" Shaunee accused.

"It's only nine in the morning," Erin retorted. "Only old ladies are gonna be there. No one's gonna care, anyway."

"You're being stupid and selfish," Shaunee said. "Both of you are our responsibility. If you get caught sneaking out, Neferet will blame all of us."

"I've had it with you!" Erin yelled, stepping right up near Shaunee. "I'm _not_ your responsibility. I am an independent, strong woman! I can make my own decisions. Nobody here appreciates me, so why do you care if I get in trouble?" Erin shook her head. "You know what? I'm going back to the House of Night."

"You're just gonna leave us?" Shaunee yelled. "You're water! You're part of the circle!"

"Aphrodikey can be water," Erin said, storming off to her room, Shaylin behind her. They packed all their things while Shaunee was telling the other people. _Good, _Erin thought. _Let her tell them. I hope they realize that they can't step all over me anymore._

"You don't wanna do this, Erin," Zoey said, walking into the room. "Please don't leave. We can work this out."

"I'm tired of being unappreciated." Erin didn't even look at her. "I'm going no matter what."

"You're gonna regret this," Zoey warned.

"The only thing I regret is not doing this sooner," Erin said with a fake smile. "P.S., I've been chosen to lead the next ritual for the school. I can be a High Priestess too." And with that, Erin grabbed all her bags and left the room with Zoey gaping after her.

Erin left with Shaylin in the Range Rover. Someone could come pick it up at the school. The entire ride they were quiet.

"Ima said she could get us a good room," Erin mumbled as she pulled into the school. "Everything will be okay."

Shaylin nodded. They went straight to Ima's room. Much to Shaylin's dismay, they could hear Erik in there too. Shaylin stood outside in the hall.

"Erin!" Ima exclaimed as she opened the door. "What do you want at this hour?"

"Shaylin and I moved out of the tunnels," Erin said. "You said you could get us a good room, right?"

Ima handed her a key. "Aphrodite's old room." Erin turned away but Ima stopped her. "Erin? I'm proud of you."

Erin nodded. "Yeah, me too."

**Chapter Nine**

**Zoey**

"What do I do?" I complained to Stark. "How are we supposed to have a circle if we're missing water?"

Stark kissed my forehead. "You're stressing out a lot, I can feel it. Why don't you just get Aphrodite to fill in?"

I bit my lip. "That's what I was thinking, but what if water zaps her?"

"Then we'll just have to find someone that water doesn't zap."

"Yeah, you're right." I sighed. Everything had gotten so hectic lately. First Kramisha wrote this confusing poem, then Aphrodite had another vision about my death, and now we lost a part of our circle. All I wanted to do was go to see Grandma and relax with my boyfriend.

"Rise and shine!" Stevie Rae cried, skipping into our room. "Are y'all ready to go to school?"

"Why are you so cheerful?" Stark asked.

"Because Rephaim gave me this." She held up a black feather. "It's a token of his love."

"Do you have some sort of bird fetish or something?" Stark mumbled. I tried not to laugh.

"The bus is here, bitches!" Damien yelled into the room. "Let's go."

We all made our way to the lame short bus Neferet kept sending for us. The ride to school was quiet, everyone still reminiscing about how Erin and Shaylin left us. When we pulled up to the school, we all shuffled to first period with Thanatos.

"How are all of you today?" Thanatos asked as she did attendance. Practically everyone groaned.

"It seems like we're just missing Erin Bates and Shaylin Ruede," Thanatos said. "Zoey? Where are they?"

"I don't know," I mumbled. "They left our group yesterday and moved in here."

"Sorry we're late." We all turned to see Erin and Shaylin walking into the room. "Neferet was talking to us."

I couldn't help but gasp when I saw what they were wearing. Erin was wearing a long, expensive-looking blue dress, and Shaylin was wearing a matching one in red. I couldn't help noticing that the dresses matched their marks.

"Well, at least you're here," Thanatos pointed out. "Find yourselves a seat."

Erin and Shaylin walked right over to where the bad red fledglings were. The fledglings smiled at them and gave them kind greetings. The entire class I could feel Dallas staring at me with a smug smile on his face.

When the bell rang, I was relieved that I could finally go to drama. Then I realized that Shaylin was in my class. _I should talk to her,_ I thought. _I'm the High Priestess. I need to find out what's going on with her and Erin._

"Shaylin!" I called, running up to her in the hall. "Hey, how are you?"

She gave me a dirty look. "I'm fine, thank you very much."

"Did you guys get here safely?" I asked, putting on my polite voice.

She spun around to face me. "What do you want, Zoey? We're not coming back to the tunnels."

"I just wanted to know if you guys were okay," I said. "And I wanted to say I'm sorry for everything."

Shaylin nodded. "Well, I appreciate your apology, but it doesn't change anything." And then she rushed to drama class.

When I walked into the drama classroom, I saw Shaylin talking to Erik. And they weren't even yelling at each other, they were actually smiling and laughing. When the bell rang, symbolizing the start of second period, Erik kissed Shaylin's hand before she went to her new desk at the front.

Drama and Lit went by in a blur. I soon found myself standing in the gym for fourth period, martial arts. Professor Notevila didn't show up until twenty minutes after class started. I saw her hiding a Starbucks bag behind her.

"Good afternoon, class," she said. "I mean, good night. I'm still not used to being nocturnal."

Damien raised his hand. "How are you not used to being nocturnal? Were you diurnal?"

"When I was a human," Professor Notevila said, laughing nervously.

"Wasn't that hundreds of years ago?" Damien pointed out.

Professor Notevila turned red. "Damien, go do one hundred push ups. The rest of you can just make karate noises and run around."

While running around making karate noises, I realized that Professor Notevila was really suspicious. Anytime anyone questioned her, she'd make them do push ups. Her mark looked like it was drawn in blue eyeliner pencil. She was fat, and weren't vampyres supposed to be fit, otherwise they'd die? And I couldn't help thinking she looked familiar.

At lunch when I found my table, I realized everyone was still acting quiet. Stevie Rae was playing with her food. Rephaim was playing with her hair. Damien was reading the dictionary and Shaunee was shoveling lasagna in her mouth. Stark was reading _Green Eggs and Ham._

"I talked to Shaylin today," I said, trying to get everyone's attention. "She said she and Erin weren't coming back. And then at drama her and Erik were smiling and flirting. It was weird."

Shaunee stood up. "I'm going to the library." She left swiftly.

"Aw, she's still upset 'bout Erin," Stevie Rae said. "I still can't believe Erin left."

"Did you notice those dresses her and Shaylin were wearing?" Damien asked. "They were gorgeous! I wonder where I can get one."

"You're a dude," Stark pointed out.

Damien shot him a look. "So?"

"Guys, we need to figure out what we're gonna do!" I cried, exasperated. "Shaylin and Erin were talking to Neferet today. Obviously she must have something to do with this."

"I think we should just apologize to them," Stevie Rae said. "Tell them how important they are to us."

"I already apologized," I mumbled.

Stevie Rae looked right in my eyes as she said "Then we need to fight to get them back."


	5. Chapter 10 and 11

**Chapter Ten**

**Neferet**

"What do you think of this dress?" Neferet asked the bull. Erin had volunteered to be Neferet's personal shopper, and when she came back with fifteen black dresses, Neferet was overjoyed. She was trying on dress number six.

_I am some of the oldest magick left in the world, _the bull said. _Do I really have to be here watching you try on dresses?_

"You are my Consort," Neferet said. "Therefore you shall be here for me. Now, what do you think of this dress?"

The bull grunted. _You look wonderful, my Goddess._

Neferet put her hands on her hips. "You've said that about all the other dresses too."

There was a knock at the door. Neferet skipped over to answer it. It was Bertha.

"Hello Neferet," Bertha said, coming in. "Do you have time to think of more evil plans?"

"Well, I was trying on some dresses for the bull," Neferet replied. "But I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I stopped."

_Please stop,_ the bull called.

"Go away, you worthless excuse of a Consort!" Neferet yelled at him. The bull grunted and disappeared. Neferet put on a big fake smile for Bertha. "Shall we sit down?"

She and Bertha sat on the new couch Erin had picked out. It was black and comfy but it was also sophisticated. Neferet sipped her glass of red wine with blood. "Do you want a glass?"

"Sure, I could get buzzed," Bertha said. When she tasted the wine, she spit it out. "Ohmygod. What the fuck is in this?"

"Oh, I forgot there was blood in it." Neferet shrugged. "Whoops."

Bertha put the glass down. "So, we have Erin, Shaylin and Erik. Who else do we need?"

"Well, today when Zoey's group was coming into the school, I was able to pick into some of their minds. Shaunee, the fire affinity girl, really wants Erin back. If we can get Erin to talk to Shaunee, we might be able to get her."

Bertha nodded. "Who else?"

"That's the problem, I don't know. During lunch yesterday, apparently they were thinking of plans to fight us." Neferet laughed. "Only Zoey, Stark, Damien, Stevie Rae and Rephaim were present at that conversation. I'm pretty sure all the other are clueless about the plans, so we should try to get them as quickly as possible before they find out."

"So that would be the red fledglings, Shaunee, Aphrodite and Darius?"

Neferet nodded. "I'm pretty sure we can get Shaunee. I'm worried that the red fledglings are true to Stevie Rae, though, and won't be able to be lured. And I'm pretty sure getting Aphrodite and Darius would be near impossible."

"Well, we'd have water and fire affinities, the bad red fledglings, Aurox as a bull, Shaylin's true sight, Erik and your powers," Bertha pointed out. "All they'd have is air and earth affinities, Zoey's affinities for everything, two warriors, the good red fledglings and a bird during the morning. Wouldn't we be strong enough?"

Neferet sighed. "It's a close call. I still think they outnumber us in power. Oh, and Rephaim might be able to convince Kalona to help them. There's no way we'd win."

"What if we can get Rephaim?" Bertha wondered out loud. "Then we'd have his bird-ness, Stevie Rae's earth affinity, the good red fledglings AND Kalona."

A slow smile spread across Neferet's face. "That's it! All we need to do is convince Rephaim to come over. If he comes over, Kalona and Stevie Rae will too, and the good red fledglings will come with Stevie Rae!" Neferet jumped up and gave Bertha a hug, even though she couldn't wrap her arms all around Bertha.

Bertha jumped up and down. "Ohmygosh, this is so exciting! We're finally gonna be able to kill Zoey!"

Neferet started jumping up and down too. "We are! We are gonna kill Zoey!"

Bertha stopped. "Wait. How are we gonna get Rephaim?"

Neferet paused and thought about it. "Oh! Rephaim and Shaunee are friends! Maybe once we get Shaunee over, she can find some way to get Rephaim."

"When are we gonna get Shaunee?" Bertha asked.

"I'll go tell Erin now," Neferet said. "You should probably run some laps while I do that. You really are fat."

Neferet rushed off to Erin's room and excitedly knocked on the door. "Erin! I need to talk to you!"

Erin opened the door. "Hey Neferet. What is it?"

Neferet walked inside and shut the door. "You miss Shaunee, right?"

Erin looked down. "Truthfully, yes. I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry," Neferet said. "Shaunee misses you too. I know you two aren't Twins anymore, but does that mean you can't be friends?"

"I'd love to be her friend," Erin mumbled.

"Then why don't you go get her?" Neferet asked, putting on her best mom voice.

"Maybe I will," Erin said.

"You fucking better," Neferet said. "Now run Erin! Run to Shaunee and get her over here!"

Neferet watched as Erin ran away, with _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory _music playing as she ran. Neferet threw her head back and laughed. Everything was coming together perfectly.

**Chapter Eleven**

**Shaunee**

Shaunee sighed as she did her homework. Why did Thanatos have to give so much out? Like seriously, Shaunee could've been getting her groove on to Beyoncé. She'd always admired Beyoncé's fierceness. It inspired Shaunee to be comfortable in her own skin.

Shaunee sighed again. She missed Erin a lot. Even though she was the one that ended their Twin-ship, Shaunee still cared about Erin and wanted to be her friend. So when she saw her with Shaylin yesterday, wearing those matching dresses, it kinda broke Shaunee's heart.

Shaunee continued doing her homework. All of a sudden, Erin burst into the room.

"Twin!" Erin yelled.

"Twin!" Shaunee yelled back.

Erin ran up to Shaunee and hugged her. They were hugging for what seemed like forever.

"Twin, you have to come with me," Erin said. "Please. I have a sweet deal for us. Aphrodite's old room, becoming High Priestesses in Training, our specialness being recognized. I'm Neferet's personal shopper!"

"But Neferet's a bad guy, Twin," Shaunee said sadly. "She's evil."

Erin put her hands on her hips. "She's not that bad. I think she's just misunderstood. Trust me, Twin."

Shaunee thought long and hard. She'd known Erin for years now, and she knew Erin cared about her. To be honest, Zoey had lied to and betrayed them before. Neferet hadn't actually killed anybody, other than Zoey's mom. Maybe Erin was right. Maybe she should go.

"Okay," Shaunee heard herself say.

Erin squealed. "Ohmygod yay! Come on, let's go."

Shaunee followed Erin out of the room. They just got to the door when they heard a voice, Damien. "Erin? What are you doing here? And why are you going with her, Shaunee?"

"Damien!" Erin cried, running to him and hugging him. "Come with us! We're gonna be recognized for our specialness. It's the good life. Yesterday Neferet made a third former give me a foot massage while another third former fed me chocolate strawberries."

"Erin, that's awful," Damien said, but he was clearly trying not to laugh. "Was it… good?"

"It was amazing," Erin said. "So, do you wanna come with us?"

"Can I think about it?" Damien asked, trying to keep his voice down.

"Of course." Erin smiled. "Come on, Shaunee."

Shaunee followed Erin out to her car, where they drove to the House of Night. The entire time, Erin was babbling about how amazing everything was. To be honest, Shaunee was excited. She knew she was special ever since she got her affinity for fire, but Zoey always seemed to get all the attention. Now Shaunee would be recognized for her amazingness.

"Shaunee! Erin!" Neferet cried as they walked into her room. Neferet gave Erin a hug before moving onto Shaunee. "Welcome home," Neferet whispered into Shaunee's ear as she hugged her. Shaunee couldn't help smiling.

Shaunee noticed Shaylin was sitting on the beautiful black couch Erin had said she bought for Neferet. Shaylin was frowning and her arms were crossed over her chest, covering her cleavage which Shaunee knew must've been for Erik.

"Hey Shaylin," Shaunee said, walking over. "What's up?"

"Oh you know, just watching Erin make a huge mistake," Shaylin replied, her eyes narrowed.

Shaunee raised an eyebrow. "Girl, are you talking about me?"

Shaylin stood up and walked right up near Shaunee. "Oh, looks like you have some sort of brains. Yes I'm talking about you. You were being a total bitch to Erin, and now you think you can just walk up in here and be treated like a princess. News flash: you're not _that_ special."

"Erin!" Shaunee yelled. Erin came running over. "Hold my earrings," Shaunee said, taking the gold hoops out of her ears.

"You wanna go?" Shaylin yelled. "Come at me, bro!"

Shaylin and Shaunee circled around a few times, stalling for Neferet who was anxiously making popcorn. Erin was getting her iPhone ready to video tape the fight. Finally, Shaylin lunged at Shaunee and ripped a piece of her weave off.

"Oh no you didn't!" Shaunee yelled. "Bitch, I paid five hundred dollars for those extensions. Your little white girl ass is mine!" Shaunee grabbed a handful of Shaylin's hair and started pulling.

The fight went on for a while, mostly just hair-pulling and bitch slapping. Neferet was eating popcorn and jumping up and down while Erin was filming and yelling things like "Yeah! Aim for the eyes!"

"ENOUGH!" Professor Notevila yelled, walking into the room. Shaunee noticed that her hair was intensely red and her makeup was actually well done, her eyes perfectly lined black. She was wearing a long black dress and she look insanely powerful, with darkness floating around her.

Professor Notevila walked right up to Shaylin and Shaunee. "Why are you two fighting?"

"She started it!" Both girls yelled, pointing at the other.

"Enough," Professor Notevila said, holding up her hand. "There will be no more fighting, understood?" They both nodded. Professor Notevila turned to Neferet. "Neferet, you were encouraging this?"

Neferet blushed. "Well, I do like fights…."

"Did you even _**think**_ about what this could've done to our plan?" Professor Notevila shouted. "Jeez. You're supposed to be the evil genius! I'm supposed to be the one screwing things up! You're embarrassing yourself."

Neferet bowed her head. "Sorry Bertha."

"Ima!" Professor Notevila barked. "My name is Ima. God, what is with you today? You're messing everything up." And with that, she spun on her heels and walked out of the room.

There was silence for a while before Erin said "Can I still upload the fight to YouTube?"


	6. Chapter 12 and 13

**Chapter Twelve**

**Bertha**

Bertha skipped down the hall, trying to find Erik's class. She was making her class watch _The Karate Kid _and when she turned off the lights, she slipped out of the room. Finally, she found it. She waltzed right in, yelling "Hey sugar dick!"

All of Erik's kids turned to stare at her. A couple burst out laughing, and one really prissy bitch in the front made a disgusted face. Bertha ignored her. She couldn't help that she was in love with Erik and sometimes said inappropriate stuff.

"Ima," Erik said, forcing a smile. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching a class?"

"They're watching a movie." Bertha shrugged. "How 'bout you turn on _Romeo and Juliet _here and me and you will go have some fun." She pulled a banana out of her purse and began eating it slowly and seductively.

"You look like a gorilla," one kid commented.

"Because I'm wearing all black?" Bertha asked.

"No," the kid said. "Because you're fat."

"Okay class," Erik said, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "You all read over your scripts. I'm gonna go talk to Professor Notevila outside." Erik grabbed Bertha by the arm and tried to drag her outside. Once they got out, he slammed the door.

"What the hell, Ima?" he yelled. "You can't just come into my class, call me sugar dick…" he stopped so he could laugh. He quickly recovered. "And then eat a banana like that. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I want your love and I want your revenge. You and me could write a bad romance." Bertha tried to sing and dance but Erik stopped her.

"Ima, you know I love you," he whispered. "But I don't want to be embarrassed by you."

"I'm not embarrassing you," Bertha defended. "I'm just a little weird."

"A _little_ weird?" Erik paused. "Well, at least you aren't cheating on me with a billion guys. Tell you what; I'll _have some fun _with you during lunch."

"Yay!" Bertha cried, jumping up and down. Erik fell on the ground and tried to get Bertha's attention but the sound of her feet hitting the ground was too loud for her to hear him. Eventually she stopped and helped him up.

"Now go teach your class," Erik said, kissing her forehead. "I'll see you later."

Bertha skipped away to her room. She didn't want to teach her class. Her students all sucked. If Bertha was a student, she would've loved to run around (walk around) making karate noises and watching karate movies. But noooo, these kids just had to do actual martial arts. Well, they had Bertha for a teacher, and Lord knew she could not do physical activity.

Bertha got to her room and sprawled out on her bed. She cocked her head to the side to look at the framed picture of Heath she had put on her bedside table. It was him wearing his football uniform, smiling with his fist in the air. Bertha smiled and picked it up, gently tracing the frame with her index finger.

"Oh Heath," she whispered. She hugged the picture close to her chest before putting it back. Then she put her hands together and closed her eyes

"Lord, I'm sorry for not praying for a while. I've been busy, you know that. I think Neferet and I finally have a full proof plan. I'd like to thank you for that, since I'm guessing you've been helping us along the way. We're finally gonna be able to kill Zoey."

For the first time ever, Bertha wondered if she was doing the right thing being evil. She quickly shook the thought out of her head. It was Zoey's fault Heath was dead, and Heath had been Bertha's everything. Obviously the right thing to do was to kill her.

"I pray that our plan will work out. Amen."

Bertha wandered out of her room and, shortly after, the bell rang. She went to the cafeteria, where they were serving lasagna. Bertha took a huge helping and went to meet Erik over at the Professors' table.

Erik wasn't there. Bertha shrugged and took a seat next to Neferet, who started excitedly talking about her plans to get Rephaim.

"I talked to Shaunee and she agreed to get Rephaim over here," Neferet said. "And apparently Damien's thinking about coming too! This is so exciting! We could actually have Zoey's entire circle!"

"Great," Bertha said half-heartedly. She shoveled some lasagna in her mouth and desperately scanned the cafeteria for Erik. She finally saw him. He was standing next to Shaylin at the table where Erin, Shaunee, Aurox, and the bad red fledglings sat. Shaylin was laughing and she put her hand on Erik's shoulder. He didn't take it off.

They were both smiling at each other and staring into each other's eyes. Shaylin whispered something and Erik nodded. Then they hugged and Erik started walking over to Bertha's table. Bertha quickly stood up and ran away. Actually, she only ran for thirty seconds. She had to walk after that, so Erik was able to catch up to her.

"Ima? What's wrong?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I saw you flirting with Shaylin," Bertha said, not able to look him in the eyes. "I saw you two laughing and hugging and putting her hands on you. What the hell, Erik? When you said you were gonna have some fun at lunch, I thought you meant with me, not her!"

"Shaylin and I are just friends," Erik promised.

"I know about your flirtationship with her."

"Yeah, _**ex**_-flirtationship."

"Obviously it's not over," Bertha said sadly, blinking the tears in her eyes. "You say you love me but I can tell you also want her, and I'm nobody's second choice. Not anymore." Bertha took a deep breath and started walking away.

"Are you seriously gonna walk away from this?" Erik yelled. "I'm the hottest guy here! You're lucky I even went out with a fatass like you!"

Bertha stopped walking. Erik sounded just like Arnold. She suddenly felt hatred against Erik. Who was he to call her names? She wasn't going to just sit around and be insulted, at least not anymore. "Darkness," she whispered. "Hurt Erik like he's hurt me."

Bertha watched as strings of darkness flung themselves at Erik. He screamed and tried to run away but they caught him and brought him to the ground. As he struggled, rolling around on the ground, unable to get up, Bertha walked over to him and leaned down, her face right near his.

"You're powerless," she whispered. "You have no special abilities. You are practically useless to my plan. But I swear to God, if you go over to Zoey's side, I will kill you too. If you say anything to Zoey, you're dead. Despite the fact that we're over, you're still on my side, so you better start training to be a warrior, because I'm not going to protect you. Understand?"

Erik nodded, his eyes wide.

"Good." Bertha took a deep breath and walked away, her head high. She was never going to be a powerless woman again. No man was going to treat her like crap and get away with it anymore. She smiled to herself and hoped Heath was watching her and smiling too.

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Rephaim**

Rephaim watched a documentary about ravens on TV. Since he could turn into a raven, he thought he should know about them. He went to put his arm around Stevie Rae, but then remembered she wasn't there. She had left during the first two minutes, claiming the documentary was boring.

"Hey Rephaim," said a voice. It was Shaunee. She sat down next to him.

"Shaunee, I thought you don't live here anymore," Rephaim pointed out.

"I don't," Shaunee said. "But you're my friend. Can't I come over and visit you?"

"I guess so," Rephaim agreed. He turned his attention back to the documentary but Shaunee kept on talking. "Rephaim, do you miss me?"

"I miss your company, yes," Rephaim admitted. He turned his attention back to the TV.

Shaunee nodded and then took the TV remote and shut the documentary off. Rephaim gave her a dirty look.

"Listen, Rephaim," she said. "I want you to come with me back to the House of Night. Why are you on Zoey's side when she wouldn't hesitate to kill your father?"

"Because Stevie Rae is on Zoey's side."

"I know Stevie Rae wants to be a High Priestess, but with Zoey in the way, she can't be. You guys will always be in Zoey's shadow. If you guys come with me though, you'll be treated like the special people you are. Your powers will be recognized!"

Rephaim thought back to the conversation he had with Stevie Rae where she admitted she thought Zoey wasn't doing a good job being High Priestess. He also thought about how Stevie Rae really wanted to fight Neferet but Zoey brushed it off. He wanted the best for Stevie Rae. Maybe going with Shaunee would be best.

"But Neferet is evil," Rephaim said finally. "Stevie Rae is good. I'm good."

"I don't think she's evil anymore," Shaunee said. "All she's been is nice to us lately. I think she's really trying to get back on Nyx's path."

"Then why is she trying to get us away from Zoey?"

"Because she knows Zoey won't easily forgive her. She killed Zoey's mom. I think she's trying to get us on her side so she can prove to Zoey that she's not a bad guy anymore. That's why I think it would be great if you, Stevie Rae and the red fledglings could come with me. It'll help make everything better."

Rephaim considered this. What Shaunee was saying seemed true. "I'll have to talk to Stevie Rae," he said.

Shaunee smiled. "That's okay." She turned the TV back on. "Is there any way you can talk to her now? I can watch this documentary while you're gone."

"Okay." Rephaim smiled back at her. He rushed to go find Stevie Rae, who was in their room dancing around to Kenny Chesney.

"Hey Rephaim," she said, walking over to him. "I thought you were watching that boring show about birds."

"I want to talk to you about something," he said, ignoring the insult about his documentary. "I want to go to the House of Night."

"You're not allowed to live there," Stevie Rae pointed out.

"Dragon Lankford is dead, so I don't think that applies anymore. And Shaunee invited us to come. It's okay with Neferet."

Stevie Rae shook her head. "Jesus, Rephaim, I thought you knew Neferet was a ba-"

"Hear me out," Rephaim cut her off. He explained to her what Shaunee told him. He couldn't help smiling when he saw her consider what he had said.

"But how can I leave Zoey?" she asked quietly. "We're BFFs."

"We'd be leaving _for_ Zoey," Rephaim objected. "If we leave, it'll help make her realize that Neferet's not bad anymore, and then when she realizes that she'll be less stressed out and everything will go back to normal."

"But what if she doesn't forgive me for leaving?"

Rephaim put his hands on her shoulders. "If she's a real BFF, she'll forgive you. You're doing this for her, don't forget."

Stevie Rae nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go. For Zoey."

"For Zoey," Rephaim agreed.

Rephaim and Stevie Rae packed their stuff and went back to meet with Shaunee, who had changed the channel to some trashy teen drama. Shaunee squealed and hugged Stevie Rae when she saw her. They were about to leave when they heard a voice. "Shaunee? Stevie Rae? Rephaim? Where are you going?"

They turned around and saw it was Damien, again. "We're going to the House of Night," Shaunee said.

"You're gonna leave me here with the couples?" Damien complained. "My boyfriend is dead!"

"Come with us," Stevie Rae said. She explained to him why they were leaving. Within seconds of her finishing her sentence, Damien ran off to his room and came back with a huge suitcase of his stuff. "Let's go," he said.

"Wait, what about the red fledglings?" Rephaim asked.

Stevie Rae pulled out a horn and blew into it. The red fledglings all ran in. "Pack your bags," she said. "We're going to the House of Night."

"I ain't goin'," Kramisha objected. "I don't like it there."

"I'm your High Priestess," Stevie Rae said in a loud, strong voice. "You will follow my commands. We're going to the House of Night. You have two minutes to pack. Go, go, go!"

The red fledglings ran off and returned in the two minutes. They finally all left and crammed into the car Shaunee had brought. When they arrived to Neferet's room, Neferet started smiling and greeted each of them kindly. Professor Notevila did the same.

They got escorted to their rooms. Rephaim and Stevie Rae were able to share a room again. When they were lying in bed, Stevie Rae smiling up at him and yapping about how excited she was that everything was going to be normal again, Rephaim felt really happy. He had made his Stevie Rae happy, and that was all that mattered.


	7. Chapter 14 and 15

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Zoey**

When I woke up, I noticed everything was really quiet. Usually there were sounds of the red fledglings fighting over who could have the last bowl of Froot Loops, or of Stevie Rae freaking out about how Rephaim was a human once again.

"Stark," I whispered, gently shaking my Warrior awake. He looked up at me and smiled. I leaned down and kissed him.

"Good morning," he said, stroking my messy hair. "It's quiet."

"I know," I said, getting out of the bed. "I wonder what's going on."

Suddenly, Aphrodite ran into the room, her eyes filled with blood. Darius ran in behind her.

"Ohmygod, is she having a vision?" I asked.

"No duh!" Darius yelled. He sat Aphrodite down on my bed. "My love, please tell me what's going on," he said to her.

"They're all there," Aphrodite said shakily. "Ohmygod. How could they do that to me? No! I don't want to fight! NO! STOP! PLEASE! NO!" She fell back on the bed. Darius made her sit up again.

"Fuck," Aphrodite said, rubbing her head. "That was awful."

"What happened?" I asked.

"You're probably wondering where everybody is, aren't you?" she said, ignoring my question.

I nodded.

"Well, in my vision they were with Neferet and Professor Notevila. You know how they got Erin, Shaunee and Shaylin to go over there? Rephaim, Damien, Stevie Rae and the red fledglings went too."

"Ohmygod," I whispered, trying not to cry. Why would they go over to the bad side? I thought they were my friends.

"They were trying to start a fight," Aphrodite continued. "I was seeing it from your point of view. It ended with them about to attack."

"They're trying to fight me?" I asked in disbelief, feeling the tears run down my cheeks.

"Neferet and Professor Notevila were. Everybody else looked confused. They had formed a circle, and everyone who wasn't a part of it was around them."

"Does this mean if we fight, it'll only be you, Darius, Zoey and I against them?" Stark asked.

"Yeah, there was only the four of us," Aphrodite said grimly. "You know that vision I had about your death earlier on?" she asked me. "I think this is how you died."

I sobbed and curled up next to Stark. He stroked my hair, obviously trying to calm me down but I could feel that he was upset too. I still didn't understand why my friends would betray me like that, and then _kill_ me.

"But your visions aren't always true, right, my lady?" Darius asked.

Aphrodite shrugged. "Some of them are true, some of them aren't. Either way, everybody has left and gone over to Neferet's side. What are we gonna do?"

"I'm going to ignore them," I spoke up.

Aphrodite looked me in the eyes. "Since I'm not nice, I'll be the one to say it. Zoey, you fucking suck at being a High Priestess. I just had a vision where your friends kill you and here you are saying that you're just gonna ignore them?"

"Uh, yeah," I said.

Aphrodite shook her head. "Fine. I'm not the one that's gonna being killed. Let's go to school."

After getting ready, we all hopped on the short bus. It seemed so empty with just the four of us. The entire time I tried not to think of what was going to happen during first period with all of them there.

When we got to our first period classroom, everyone was crowded to the one side of the classroom the bad red fledglings had taken over a while ago. Stevie Rae and Damien waved when they saw me come in. I ignored them and didn't wave back.

I guess while teaching the class, Thanatos seemed to sense something was wrong, because when the bell rang, she said "Zoey Redbird, can I see you for a minute?"

"Okay," I mumbled, watching my classmates file out the door. I moped over to Thanatos's desk.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately.

"Aphrodite had a vision where all my friends fight me," I explained. "In another one of her visions, I died. She thinks it's because of the fight."

Thanatos nodded. "Well, since my affinity is death, I'll help you cross over to the Otherworld if you need help." She nodded once more and left, with me gaping at her. Wasn't she supposed to help me? I shook my head and made my way to my next class.

The morning seemed to go by quickly. Erik gave us some boring lecture in Drama, Lit went by in a blur, and then in martial arts, Professor Notevila kept laughing whenever she saw me. She also went off to puke a couple of times. I would've suspected she had a hangover if it wasn't for the fact that vampyres couldn't get drunk.

When I got to lunch, I was fed up with the entire day. All I wanted to do, once again, was visit Grandma and hang out with my boyfriend. I made my way over to our lunch table, which looked really big with just Aphrodite, Darius and Stark sitting at it.

"Hey," I mumbled, dropping my tray down on the table. I picked at my food. Everyone seemed to be doing the same. I knew I should've been planning an attack against Neferet, but what was the use? As far as I was concerned, she won. She managed to get almost all my friends against me, and she was supposedly going to kill me.

Almost as if on cue, Aurox came bounding over to our table. He stood in front of it awkwardly, playing with some folded piece of paper. We all stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

"This is from Neferet," he said finally, dropping the paper on the table. Then he ran away.

"Weirdo," Aphrodite muttered under her breath.

I picked up the paper and unfolded it. I took a deep breath before reading everything out loud.

_Zoey,_

_We would like to challenge you to a fight. Tomorrow at 8 am out near Nyx's Temple. Bring only the remaining members of your group. If you don't show up, we'll get your grandma…. And then we'll get you._

_Sincerely,_

_Neferet & others_

"It's really gonna happen," I whispered, closing the note.

"We might have time to run away," Stark said. "We could get your grandma and leave with her."

"No," I objected. "I know that everyone thinks I'm weak and don't wanna fight, so let's fight. Let's show them that we can't be bossed around. If I die, at least it'll be in the service of my Goddess."

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Bertha**

Bertha leaned over the toilet, vomiting. She felt awful. Maybe it was just nerves from the big day tomorrow. She sighed and took a sip of the glass of water she had put on the ground next to her. For some strange reason, she was hungry. She went over to phone Neferet.

"Hello?" Neferet said after picking up at the second ring.

"Hey," Bertha croaked. "I'm not feeling so good. I've thrown up, like, four times today, and now I'm starving. What do I do?"

Neferet sighed. "I'll be right over."

Bertha went to lie down in her bed for a while. In what seemed like seconds, Neferet came walking in, carrying a stethoscope, a bag and a bucket of fried chicken. Bertha almost instantly felt better.

"You can have the fried chicken when I'm done checking up on you," Neferet said. "So, tell Dr. Neferet your symptoms."

"I'm hungry, I'm vomiting," Bertha recited. "I have no idea why."

Neferet almost looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Bertha, have you been sexually active lately?"

"Well, yeah."

Neferet burst out laughing. "Honey, I think you might be pregnant." She pulled out a pregnancy test from her bag. She handed it to Bertha. "Go check."

Sure enough, the test said that Bertha was pregnant. Bertha fell onto the ground and started crying. It was Erik's baby. Erik, the total asshole that had conveniently gotten into a relationship with Shaylin an hour after Bertha broke up with him.

Bertha didn't know how she had ended up pregnant. Sure, Erik didn't use protection, but that's because he thought she was a vampyre. Vampyres couldn't get pregnant. Bertha sobbed just thinking about what everyone would think when they saw her belly. They would figure out she was a human!

Bertha stumbled out of the bathroom only to realize Neferet had left. It was 10 am, so she probably went to go to bed. Bertha climbed into her bed and cried the entire night. Once people found out she was human, she would never be as powerful again.

Bertha stumbled through the hallways, trying to get to Erik's class before first period started. She had thought long and hard about it and decided he should know she was pregnant. After all, it was his baby.

Bertha heard the first period bell ring above her and she sighed. Oh well. Hopefully Erik would take some time out of his class to talk to her. She found his classroom and walked right in. Erik gave her a dirty look when he saw her.

"Ima, I'm trying to teach a class here," he said, his eyes narrowed. "Go away."

Before she could even think of what would happen next, she blurted "I'm pregnant."

The entire class gasped, including Erik. That prissy bitch that had been there before yelled above the gasps "Vampyres can't get pregnant!"

"Because I'm not a vampyre," Bertha admitted. "I'm a human. In fact, I'm Heath Luck's mom. And Erik," she said looking at him, "you're my baby's daddy."

"I fucked Heath's mom?" Erik shrieked. He had to sit down on the ground and take some deep breaths before he managed to choke out "Ohmygod. You're pregnant. You're a human and you're pregnant. You're Heath's mom. Ohmygod."

"Surprise," Bertha said weakly.

"This is hilarious!" One kid yelled. "I can't wait for everybody on Twitter to see this!"

Bertha looked around and realized all the fledglings were either updating their statuses on their phones, or videotaping Erik, who was now rolling around on the ground. Within seconds, an announcement came overhead. "Students, please ignore the fact that Professor Ima Notevila is actually a pregnant human named Bertha Luck. Thank you."

"Your name's Bertha?" Erik screamed. "Ohmygod, that name is so unattractive!"

Bertha ran out of the room. Out in the halls, she could still hear people laughing and insulting her. Every single classroom she passed, people were staring out at her, pointing. Bertha ran right to her room, and for the first time she didn't stop running.

She washed the mark off her face. She suddenly felt really stupid for pretending to be a vampyre. She didn't even look like a vampyre, for crying out loud! Bertha wondered if Zoey knew who she was. Wait, of course she knew! Neferet stupidly announced it to the entire school!

Bertha stared at herself in the mirror for a while. There was only twelve hours until the fight. She could stay in her room for twelve hours. Bertha went to her closet, trying to see what she could wear to the fight. Only the garbage bag was hanging up in there. Bertha sighed. She walked over to her phone and dialled Erin's number.

"Ima?" Erin said. "What's going on? Everyone's saying that you're a pregnant human named Bertha. Is this true?"

"Yes," Bertha said. "I'm Bertha Luck, Heath's mother. Look, I didn't call you to talk about that. I need a kickass outfit for the fight tonight. I figured you could help."

"Of course," Erin replied. "Here, just let me slip out to the car. Once Neferet announced who you were, practically every class was let out. Everybody's freaking out. I still can't believe you're not a vampyre!"

"Can we stop talking about this?" Bertha asked. "Please, just go get me an outfit."

Two hours later, Erin came up to Bertha's room to show her the outfit. It was perfect. Bertha changed into it and looked at herself in the mirror.

She was wearing a black corset and a long black skirt with rubies sewn into the sides. The rubies really brought out the red in Bertha's hair. Erin did Bertha's makeup, carefully making each eyelid equally as black, and then pairing it off with red lips. Bertha thought she looked like a goddess.

Hours passed and soon it was only two hours until the fight. Bertha and Neferet had met up and gathered all the kids in Neferet's room. Neferet was giving them a pep talk. Bertha had excused herself to go to the bathroom. Secretly, she went to her room. She grabbed the picture of Heath she had and just stared at it.

She put it down next to her and put her hands together. "Lord, in two hours the fight starts. I'm starting to feel really nervous. I really, really hope that we kill Zoey. I hope you help me along the way. This is for Heath. Tonight, I will finally get my revenge on Zoey for killing him. Tonight is the night. Please help me. Amen."

Bertha stood up, took one last look at her picture of Heath, and left. She had butterflies in her stomach and she was scared, _**really**_ scared, but Bertha knew that this was right. Killing Zoey was right. She smiled, straightened her back, and made her way to Neferet's room.


	8. Chapter 16 and Epilogue

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Bertha**

At 7:50 am, Neferet and Bertha hustled everyone outside, right near Nyx's Temple. Thanks to Erin, everyone was wearing black and red. Neferet quickly got Damien, Shaunee, Erin and Stevie Rae to form a circle, with Shaylin standing in the middle, representing spirit.

"Okay, Aurox, Rephaim and Dallas, go stand in front," Neferet advised. "Erik and my red fledglings, you stand behind them. Stevie Rae's red fledglings surround the circle. And Rephaim, go call your dad!"

Rephaim scurried off to call Kalona. Within minutes, Kalona came flying down. Neferet made him stand in the front with Rephaim.

"Bertha!" Neferet called. "Where are you going to stand?"

"The front," Bertha said back, making her way in front of Kalona and Rephaim, who were in the middle. They parted so she was the main focus, standing in front of everyone. Bertha felt extremely powerful.

Neferet ran over to the circle. "Okay, you guys. I'm gonna start lighting your candles. Whatever happens, _**don't**_ break the circle. If I see anyone break it, you're dead."

Bertha watched as Neferet weaved her way over to Damien. "Come to me, air!" she yelled, and wind instantly blew between her and Damien. Bertha watched in awe. She'd never seen a circle being cast before.

"Come to me, fire!" Neferet shouted, making her and Shaunee instantly glow. She walked over to Erin. "Come to me, water!" Waves appeared at Neferet's and Erin's feet. Neferet walked to Stevie Rae. "Come to me, earth!" Bertha smelled fresh cut grass coming from over there.

Neferet finally made her way to Shaylin, who was standing nervously in the middle. "Come to me, spirit!" Bertha didn't see anything happen to Shaylin and Neferet. Instead, all she saw was a strange line connecting all the elements.

Neferet made her way next to Bertha, standing right in the front. They were ready. Any second now Zoey and her group would come and the fight would begin. Bertha felt a bit nervous. She was actually going to _**kill **_Zoey. She gripped the gun Neferet had given her.

The plan was for all the warriors and fledglings to get Aphrodite, Darius and Stark, leaving Zoey alone. Then some of them would proceed to get Zoey and hold her down, and then Bertha would shoot her. Then Neferet would try to convince Aphrodite, Darius and Stark to come to their side, and if they refused, they would also get shot.

Right as it turned eight o'clock, Zoey and her group came walking over. They were also dressed in black. They stood a good distance away from Bertha's group, with Stark protectively standing in front of Zoey and Darius standing in front of Aphrodite.

"Are there going to be any rules?" Zoey asked, her voice amplified.

"None whatsoever," Neferet replied. "We'll start when you're ready."

Zoey looked over at Stark and nodded. He pulled out his bow and arrow. Darius pulled out his knife. Bertha watched as her group pulled out their weapons. Neferet called Darkness to her and was ready to throw the strands at them. Bertha tightened her grip on her knife.

"Air, fire, water, earth and spirit, come to me!" Zoey shouted, and Bertha watched as she turned from a mediocre teenage girl to a strong and powerful High Priestess. Bertha gulped. Could she really kill her?

"Come at me, bro," Neferet whispered.

Zoey looked to her warriors, nodded and they just started running at them when a horrible sound came from Bertha's group.

Bertha turned around. It was coming from Aurox, who everyone had now formed a big, spaced-out circle around. He was on the ground and screaming. All of a sudden, something seemed to come out of his body.

_**It was the spirit version of Heath!**_

"Heath!" Bertha screamed, running to him. She fell to the ground at his feet and started sobbing. He was there! _Heath was there!_

_Mom! _Heath said, crouching down next to her. She felt a strange warmness on her back, and when she looked at it, she saw Heath's translucent hand.

"Y-you're h-h-here," Bertha choked out. She tried to stop crying but it was all too much. She just stared at her son's perfect face and sobbed.

_Stop crying, Mom, _Heath said. _You're embarrassing me._ He laughed. Bertha did too.

"I'm s-sorry," Bertha cried, wanting to hug her son but not knowing how. "You're just here. How are you? Is everything okay in Heaven? Have you been watching down on me?"

_I have been watching down on you, _Heath said. _And I'm not in Heaven. I'm in Nyx's Otherworld. I was hoping this whole thing about you killing Zoey was just a joke, but when I saw it was actually going to happen, I knew I had to do something about it._

_Look, Mom, I love Zo. I don't mind the fact that I died for her. I know you loved me more than anything and that when I died, you had nothing. But, listen, it wasn't Zoey's fault. It was mine. I was being careless when I was listening in on Kalona's conversation. But when I died, I protected her. That's all I ever wanted to do in my life. Protect people. You know that._

_You're not evil, Mom. You're just confused. You think you had to become evil to be powerful and strong, but you had that strength in you all along. You had it when you went through my death. You had it when you put up with Dad's abuse. You were always a strong woman. You just needed to show your strength more often._

_I don't want you to kill Zo. Hell, I don't want you to kill anyone. I want you to go home and enjoy yourself and take care of your baby. _Heath reached down to put his hand on Bertha's stomach. She sobbed.

_Stop the fight. Walk away. Please Mom._

"Okay," Bertha cried. "Okay! I won't fight."

Heath smiled. _Good. Well, I gotta go now. _

"No!" Bertha yelled, instantly crying harder. "Please stay with me, Heath! I love you. Don't go."

Heath smiled again. _Don't worry, Mom. You'll be seeing me again soon. You know, in nine months. _Heath stood up, smiled and charged into Bertha's stomach. She screamed as he disappeared, but then all she felt was warmth inside of her. Heath was there! Heath was going to be reborn!

"Ohmygod," Bertha whispered. "HEATH IS GOING TO BE REBORN! I'M GETTING MY SON BACK!"

"Heath's coming back?" Zoey asked excitedly.

"You better not come near him," Bertha said sternly. When she saw Zoey's hurt face though, she sighed. "Fine. Heath can make his own decisions. But if you kill him again…"

"Bertha," Neferet said, cutting across the crowd to get to her. She looked into her eyes. "Are you going back home and being good?"

"Yes," Bertha replied. "I can't be bad, Neferet. I want to be happy. I will be happy now that Heath's coming back. But I would like to thank you. I don't think I would've realized my strength without you." Bertha hugged Neferet.

Neferet sighed and Bertha realized she was close to crying. "Oh, Neferet," she cried, hugging her again. "Please, stay in touch with me. Just call my name and I'll be there. Or call my phone number at 199-299-3999."

Neferet nodded, wiping her tears away. "Okay. I'll call you."

Bertha looked to her group. "Kids, go back to Zoey's side. I hope she forgives you. And I hope you do realize how special and important you all are."

They all nodded. Erin walked up to Bertha. "Thank you," she whispered, tears silently running down her cheeks. "Thank you for giving a shit about water."

Bertha gave her a hug. "You call me too. I could still use a personal stylist."

Erin nodded and stepped back next to Shaunee, who wrapped her arms around her.

"Well, I'm off," Bertha said, wiping away the remainder of her tears. "Please, keep in touch everyone. I hope everything goes back to normal." Bertha smiled and turned around, walking to the front of the school where all the cars were. In the background, she heard a single clap, which soon turned into applause. Bertha couldn't help but grin.

She made her way to a car. She took one last look at the House of Night. "Thank you," she whispered at the building. "Thank you for everything." She smiled and drove out of sight.

**Epilogue**

Things did get back to normal at the House of Night. After realizing she really did have to start appreciating their powers more, Zoey apologized to all her friends. They all accepted the apology and moved back into the tunnels.

Thanks to Shaylin's help, Erik realized that he was a jerk. She helped him change and they're still together, and are very serious.

Erin and Shaunee didn't become Twins, but they did become best friends again. They realized that they don't have to be the exact same to be best friends.

Damien continues to call everyone bitches and is still smart, obviously. Thanks to Bertha, he did get some more upper body strength from all those push ups.

Rephaim still thinks he's weird and Stevie Rae still secretly loves the fact that Rephaim can turn into a bird.

Since Heath left Aurox's body, Aurox is just a shell. Someone saw Becca, the ho, sneaking the body to her room.

Neferet is still with the bull and calls Bertha on a regular basis. She stopped the fight once Bertha left. She's given up on trying to kill Zoey, since, you know, she's the main character and can't die. Instead, she tries to focus on making Zoey's life crappy.

Zoey and Stark are still together. Aphrodite and Darius are still together.

As for Bertha, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy nine months later, whom she named Heath. He has Heath's spirit in him and he continues to look amazingly like Heath. Bertha is a single mom and loving it. Erin continues to buy her fashionable clothes and furniture, and Bertha even willingly went on a diet.

Everything is good.

The End.


End file.
